Gennady Golovkin Set to Be Chosen as World Boxing President, Will Guide Boxing Towards Olympic Games in LA 2028
Ex-middleweight world titleholder Gennady Golovkin will be elected president of the global boxing federation and lead the sport as it prepares for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
The boxing legend, who won Olympic silver in the 2004 Athens Games and achieved the most world title defences in middleweight history, is the sole nominee for president endorsed by the sport’s independent vetting panel for Sunday’s election. As a result, he will assume leadership of World Boxing, which became the governing body for Olympic-style amateur boxing this year.
That role was previously occupied by the International Boxing Association, but it was expelled by the International Olympic Committee in the year 2023 following a series of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his manifesto, the boxing veteran, whose first term runs until 2027, vowed to restore trust in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic programme, starting with the 2028 LA Olympics.
“As an amateur, I earned with pride a second-place finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that characterize the sport,” he wrote. “In my pro career, I won numerous world titles, known for my integrity, respect, and commitment to clean competition.
“I am committed to strengthening governance, ensuring financial transparency, advancing tech solutions to guarantee fair judging, and creating more chances for men and women in every region of the world.”
The IOC directly managed the boxing events at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the Paris 2024 Games. However, after the recent Games were marred by disputes about gender eligibility, it declared a need for a new partner in time for the 2028 Olympics.
In February, it officially recognized the new boxing federation, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For that event, World Boxing implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a move that the IOC is also considering for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
